"You see now," pursued Jack, "the double uselessness of offering bribes to me—as the son of Mr. Brown, and as an Englishman."
"What are you going to do with me?"
All the bluster, all the silkiness, was now gone; the general was anxious, almost suppliant.
"That I cannot say. You will be delivered to my chief, Mr. Ah. It is likely that you will be detained until my father is released. But I cannot answer for Mr. Ah. He is a Chinaman, with Chinese ideas. Much may depend on how my father has been treated."
Bekovitch became pale; his eyes looked anxiously around. Jack left him to his meditation. Passing the spot where Sowinski sat, manacled like Bekovitch, Jack noticed that the Pole's eyes met his with a hunted, terrified look. He had recognized his captor at once, and having also seen Gabriele he felt that he had to reckon with her as well; and his imagination of what he himself might do, were he in their place, shook him like the ague.
The march was resumed, and late in the day the party came in touch with Ah Lum's scouts. The meeting between Ah Lum and Jack was very warm.
"Never was captain so nobly served," said the grateful chief. "I was at my wits' end to escape the meshes of the net; and now not only have I escaped, but I hold in my power the man who was to ensnare me. Truly the poet Li T'ai-poh was right when he said, in his Apology for Friendship—
"'Never despair: the darkest Lot may mend;
Call no Man lost that hath one faithful Friend'.
You will find the works of Li T'ai-poh worthy of perusal, my honoured friend. They have been to me as a bright star to a wanderer in a dark night."
Jack thanked him for the recommendation; then changed the topic, and asked how the crossing of the line had been effected. He learnt that a slight skirmish had taken place at the line between the Chunchuses and the energetic pursuers of the train; but the Russians, being hopelessly outnumbered, had been compelled to retire with loss. Ah Lum in his turn was informed of the discovery of Mr. Brown's whereabouts.